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Galway 0-15 Mayo 1-11: self-destruction in Salthill

For this hugely experienced team of ours to lose one Connacht championship match to Galway might be regarded as unfortunate but to lose two in succession has to be viewed as downright careless. We allowed them to mug us in MacHale Park a year ago and today at Pearse Stadium it was primarily our own failings that saw them record back-to-back Connacht wins over us for the first time in almost a decade.

First off, it’s only right to acknowledge that Galway fully deserved their one-point win over us today. Sure, we missed plenty of chances down the closing stretch and, absolutely, from our perspective Joe McQuillan’s reffing left much to be desired. We never, though, performed at the level we needed to if we were to win this one on a day when Galway’s enormous hunger and desire proved decisive to the game’s outcome.

So too did the sending off of Keith Higgins, which happened with a good bit of the opening half still to play. Once Comer had fallen to the ground in a crumpled heap it was obvious that Keith was in trouble and the lack of any protest once the red card was flashed was telling. Regardless of whether or not the Galway man made a meal of it, it was a pure moment of madness by the vastly experienced Ballyhaunis defender and we were always bailing water thereafter.

Mind you, from then ’till half-time we enjoyed a reasonably positive period in the game. Galway, with the strong wind whipping in off the Atlantic behind them, started brightly and were three points up with as many minutes played. Our decision to face the wind in that opening half might then have been regarded as questionable but we steadied ourselves well after that opening fusillade.

Central to this was the goal we got, belted home by Kevin McLoughlin, after a point attempt by Lee Keegan came back off the upright and the Knockmore man pounced to claim possession and fire to the net.

I was really worried that Galway’s pacy forwards might go to town on us once we’d been reduced to fourteen. However, the reshuffle we made after Keith’s departure, which saw Stephen Coen (who’d started instead of Jason Doherty, with Donal Vaughan lining out in place of Colm Boyle in our starting fifteen) drop back deep, seemed to work and so we went in at the break only a point behind.

Despite John Maughan’s cheery prediction that we’d do it, when interviewed out on the pitch by Mike Finnerty during the break, we were obviously in a real battle now. The task of getting out of Salthill with a result got even harder soon after the resumption when Galway added two quick scores to pull three ahead.

The second of these, which came when the home team turned over David Clarke’s kickout, laid bare our restart problems. The Ballina man frequently struggles to get short kickouts away effectively and so it wasn’t an act of tactical wizardry to realise that, with Keith off, our man’s options on restarts were narrowed considerably. Twice in the second half Galway caught us out in this respect, by claiming the kickout ball and booting over a second point to follow the one they’d just scored.

A strong input from the bench would, for sure, now been needed to haul the fat from the fire for us. I thought we waited too long to ring the changes and, when we did, the substitutions we made were more than a bit bewildering. Aidan definitely had to come on – and did well when he did – but was Seamie the right man to come off at that stage? And did it make any sense at all to call Andy Moran, who’d just knocked over a screaming score, ashore when Danny Kirby was introduced?

In the final quarter, we came at them in waves. We created plenty of chances too but shot after shot sailed wide of the posts. Cillian saw a ’45 come back up off the upright, Donie thumped one wide from out on the wing, Paddy Durcan – released at speed in a beautiful move right down the centre – spooned a bad effort wide. Cillian missed a few low percentage efforts from play and then Evan Regan was off target from two daft attempts, one from either sideline thirty yards out. Make no mistake, we’d plenty of chances to eke out the win but we just didn’t have the ability to get the vital scores when it counted.

Galway probably couldn’t quite believe it themselves when they managed to hold out until the final whistle sounded but hold out they did. They only won by the minimum margin but I doubt this did anything to lessen the sweetness of the victory from their perspective. After last year and our insistence that they’d caught us on the hop, this will have felt – because it was – a huge win for them.

For us, we can’t but accept that the loss represents an enormous setback. Forget the fact that it’s the first time since 1978 that the county has now failed to reach the Connacht final in successive years (it is, but the decline in the importance of the provincial championships since lessens the importance of that statistic), of greater consequence is what this defeat will do for our collective psyche, both in the short-term and more widely.

It’s easy to conclude that we’ve shot our bolt, that the dream is over for this group of players and that we’re now destined to slip right back into the pack. Maybe all that is true and maybe this will indeed be our grim fate but it’s still a bit early to be drawing such conclusions in any definitive way, even if the evidence on that side of the argument is now starting to build up quite significantly.

The bigger question for us now is where we go from here in this year’s championship. Last year it proved relatively easy to pick ourselves up after the loss to Galway and, favoured by a rather benign qualifier draw, we were able to get back up on the horse again without an inordinate amount of effort. You get the sense, however, that it might not be that easy this year, not least if the draw throws more significant challenges in our path.

All those questions will need to be faced sooner rather than later. Tonight, though, we’re stuck with reflections on today’s result and, I guess, what might have been. We can, I suppose, console ourselves at being witnesses to the first proper contest in this year’s football championship – and it needs to be said that it really was a cracking game of football today – but there’s little comfort, as a former inter-county player remarked to me once, in coming out the wrong side of a classic.

Today’s match doesn’t deserve that kind of ranking but it was, for sure, one of the better Galway/Mayo clashes in recent years. The manner in which we lost it, though, has the capacity to haunt us, signposting as it does a likely trajectory for the team that none of us wants to accept but which, soon enough, we may have no choice but to acknowledge as fact. That day isn’t upon us yet but tonight it sure doesn’t feel all that far away.

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187 thoughts on “Galway 0-15 Mayo 1-11: self-destruction in Salthill”

Another game left behind , red card didn’t help but like is Aidan O’Shea fit or not ?? Clueless up front – those last five mins was where we needed Andy Moran , not the first five, I’m not confident about the qualifiers – I actually thought we played well in the first half

Stephen Rochford and his management team have serious questions to answer. Explain to any football fan why Colm Boyle was dropped. Explain why Andy Moran, who pulled and dragged the ever tiring and always naive Galway defenders out of position, was taken off. I’d also like to know about Coen starting, but we’ll give him the benefit as Coen has looked decent in short bursts.

Blame the red card at your peril. It will paper over gross inadequacies in management decisions.

Oh and for those who bang the drum of an All Ireland final appearance last year, let’s not forget that we got out of jail against Fermanagh, clung on against an insipid Tyrone, scraped through against Tipperary (Yes, Tipperary) and failed to beat the worst performing Dublin finalists since 1995.

PS: I would add in the inexplicable goalkeeper switch for the replay year.

Ifs buts and maybes if Mayo played all of that game with 15 men but to be honest on the balance of play and chances created the best team won. Galway would really be kicking themselves if they didn’t win.

Its a long time since Mayo went two years without a reaching Connacht final, where next for this Mayo team? in the short term will need the luck of the draw in qualifiers again but i think what is happening at underage makes things even more worrying for the years ahead.

We were really poor in attack. simple as. Also, we didnt win enough dirty ball in the middle and gave the galway forwards too much space in the opening 20 mins. Why didnt we just look to set up like we did in the AIF last year.

Mayo needs to play to its strength. That is defence and quick counter attacks.

What’s most disappointing is that Galway werent that good today, but they were good enough to beat us.

Bad day for mayo it’s the end of the greatest team we have ever witnessed too many miles on the clock but I am damn proud of this performance down a man and still looked liked better team ah well all good things must come to an end thanks for the great days

At least 3 points direct from clarkes kick outs
Lost by 1
Rochford was lambasted for his decision to drop him for replay
Ultimately it was the wrong call but the thinking behind it was sound
Every single kickout even when the defenders are free they end up under pressure
It’s a massive issue which is being seized on by every team

Congratulations to Galway. Th game panned out as expected. They won because mayo were not good enough to win. We were a bit unlucky but we shouldn’t be relying on luck 3 chances wasted to tie it up in last few minutes. Thanks to the team for their courage and effort again. They owe nothing. Hard to see us being as luck in qualifiers again . Let’s hope it’s not to ingloriius an end for this great team. Safe home everybody.

This team now at a crossroads.Catastrophic errors continue to plague them-red card self inflicted and forced us to play nearly 50 mins minus a player. A generally much bettwr performance than we had against them last year was further penalised by ridiculous shooting attempts from even more ridiculous positions in the closing minutes.agree with previous post that that was when we needed andy moran.we can meander our way back to croker or do a derry/longford quiet retreat for a couple of years.

Thats a fair comment Km79. Couldn’t get to match today. Marty Morrissey passed a comment about Clarke liking to go short. Its more a case of not being able to go long. If opposition push up on us we are in desperate bother with our kick outs. Its a worry that our mfield don’t seem to be able to contest kickouts so we have no variety.
That said Galway keeper made plenty of problems for himself today and on another day one of his errors would have led to a second goal

You would have to question management – how did we end up with an inexperienced forward line in the last 15 minutes – like Regan is a good footballer but those shots at the end were pure daft & his inexperience in that situation showed . When the game was in the melting in 2014 against Ros it was Alan Dillon & Andy Moran we brought on . I thought Danny Kirby did well but why not start them & see – should be finishing with your strongest team

Finger can be pointed at a lot of our lads, and fairly so. Keith is vastly experienced and done something so stupid in front of the ref! Clarke kickouts were poor, but so was the Galway keepers, so I wouldn’t be having a go at him. Our forwards were very static, and never were a threat, we missed upwards of seven chances that were kickable! Consoling myself, so not in a great mood! I don’t give Galway much credit today, if we played we won, simple as that. But fair play to them, for a very sporting game……………………….

Hard one to take and difficult to analyse due to the red. Mayo were competing very nicely up until Keith’s moment of lunacy.

Fought gamely until the break and even a man down we seemed primed to kick. We opened the second half really badly and seemed to lose all shape. As always, the lads fought back and we could well have of nabbed at least a draw.

Badly missed AOS today. I’m assuming he and Harrison are just not fit enough to feature for any length of time. Bemused with the omission of Boyle.

I’d have left Andy on given the circumstances. He’d just kicked a great point and we needed composure. I thought COC fought valiantly all through and showed real leadership.

Keegan to me doesn’t look happy at centre back. Never got into the game and didn’t get up the pitch. I think we’re taking too much out of his game stationing him in the middle. Let himself and Durkan push on and do what they’re good at.

Bitter pill to swallow but that’s what we must do. Not the time to turn on them.

I still think Mayo can regroup and go on a good run this Summer. Maybe to a semi-final again but it’s hard to see where an All-Ireland is coming from. When I looked at the team before the game there is a lot of lads there in their late 20’s/early 30’s and a lot of miles on those legs more importantly. There are some decent young players there but no great talent coming through that could really add an x-factor. I’m afraid defeats to Galway will become a fairly regular occurrence over the next few years. We have been getting hidings off them at underage level for years now (and another one today) and it will begin to show at senior level before long. If it hasn’t already. That said there are not that many great sides out there so we could easily still find ourselves playing football in August.

Watching that with a killer hangover, I’ve certainly had better sundays!

A few notes:

– conceded 0-2 at beginning of both halfs right off the bat
– daft, needless red card
– lot of needless fouls and handling errors
– 1-11 scored, despite a huge gale making scores far easier to come by in one half
– some very wayward kickouts

These are all controllables. All in all with that in mind we can hardly have any complaints

As for the opposition (the “uncontrollables”!). We’ll seldom encounter as loose a full back-line again and a team that panics like that at the end and fails to score for 15 minutes was it? That said I thought they were slicker than us, quicker than us and in Damien Comer they have a forward on a different planet to anyone we can offer (and probably Shane Walsh too). Their long range point taking was very good and it was another key difference in the end. I still think they’ve quite a bit to go and I can still see a QF exit, draw depending

As for ourselves, the next few weeks will really tell is this the end of the road for this particular crop. Despite actually being a kick of the ball from winning the AI, last year was our poorest year performance-wise since 2010, and we have been ever so slightly declining each year since our ceiling in 2013 imo. The league and today wouldn’t give me much hope that we can end that pattern.

To end on some positives:

– Stephen Coen looks a good bit of stuff
– I thought Chris Barrett tried hard
– We did kick some great scores in fairness
– Meeting Dublin or Kerry in a quarter might be honestly the best time to play them

Let this team have its fling now and who knows.
One thing for sure it will not be as easy as last year. The more serious problem is bringing on the next batch of players. I dont think its fair to criticise Evan Regan, he got on the ball and had his pots, when there wasnt a lit else on. And remember the fringe players got very little exposure in FBD and League.
We are still in the championship and we are still in div 1 of league. Time to build.
And there is a crisis at underage no doubt about that.

Lads, I thought Keith’s red was harsh, I also thought Tom Flynn’s black was harsh, but obviously not the same blow to the team. I could not understand why McLoughlin, Moran (who scored a beautiful point just after his no. went up) were substituted, surely not his fault if not being ‘played in’. I could not understand why Sice, who showed a bit of composure, was substituted. I said the same thing last year: you played with 14 for most of match and still only lost by 1. Keep the heads up!

“That said there are not that many great sides out there so we could easily still find ourselves playing football in August.”

This is very true and is what’s giving me some hope. Last year we were able to get all the way to an All Ireland final, playing only in fits and starts and not beating anyone really of note (Tyrone aside, who were very overhyped)

We’d be Blessed to get as much luck again with the draw though.

In a way we’re probably lucky enough that the overall standard isn’t at it’s greatest. 10/15 years ago we’d probably be in real bother in similar circumstances. With a bit of luck we could grind our way to the latter stages again

This mightn’t be a popular opinion but I actually admired Regan’s balls going for those scores. Someone had to stand up and be counted. They had everyone back anyway so we were never going to be in a position to work a tap over

If you read back to my blogs, and I got a fair bit of bashings for what I wrote, it all proved so true today, I,m not going to blame any player, its the management that are at fault. Horan and Management had their faults. So did Holmes and Connolly, but at least they won a Connacht Championship. As for Rochford and management, they don’t have it. Anyways this great bunch of lads have given us good days, and if managements had made correct calls we may have won 2 All Irelands. Its now time to let new players come on board, and a total new management.

Chilling remarks there from WJ that we are on the way down. Didn’t believe it until today. Contrived to lose a very winable game.
There is a dearth of forward talent on the panel, where was loftus today? Was he injured. Whatever happens this year if Rochford is there next year he needs to give 4 new forwards a real chance. Some of the current forwards cannot score under any pressure, there must be better out there somewhere?

I said we should have given young lads a chance in the league, Ruane and Akram to name two. How did we leave Cafferkey on for the full match. Did he get a kick of the ball all day. Then he took Andy off after he got a good score. Why not Kirby and Aos in on the 14 yard line and let in a few high balls with the wind. Of course that’s not the modern way.

I said we should have given young lads a chance in the league, Ruane and Akram to name two. How did we leave Cafferkey on for the full match. Did he get a kick of the ball all day. Then he took Andy off after he got a good score. Why not Kirby and Aos in on the 14 yard line and let in a few high balls with the wind. Of course that’s not the modern way.

Have ye seen the size of some of the lads yer mentioning , if ever it has been evident that bulking up is massive in modern game that galway team is it. That’s all thats changed .

Rochford has failed as a manager so far , in old money that would of been two early exits on the trot and most likely an early bath for the crossmolina native too .

My heart aches for this gallant team but I’d be pretty sure the dream died in salthill today for this group. No consolation to them but they will always be remembered as mayo gaa legends by Mayo people.

Reality. You are so correct. Its all those stats that we will read over the next week about turnovers, foot passes, block downs, losing the ball and all this usual bullshit.
The only stat that is real is the ball going over or under the crossbar. As for kicking in balls with the wind our goons in sideline wont tolerate such actions. In the end of the day the ball is what we require to score with,

Funny enough up until the sending off, I thought we were playing some of the best football we have ever played under Rochford. We were dominating possession, patient and attacking very smartly against the gale. I was pessimistic before the match but given the performance up to the time of the sending off, I would say we would have won by 5 at least if no sending off.
You just cannot underestimate the impact of the sending off.
Get AOS and Harrison fit for the qualifiers and you would never know.
They certainly played better today and than castlebar last year.

Pity Higgins didn’t underestimate his own actions in that case. Cannot fathom how Andy and McLoughlin were taken off. Agree with True Grit management bring nothing. Lucky general or tactical genius I wondered after the drawn game. Seems the former to me.

Nor can we make the sending off the excuse for not winning. It didnt make life easy but Galway on the rack and we were unable to clinically carve out openings. An old weakness returning where we have a habit of winning by a point. Or losing games we should have won

Yes, i have to say i’m with Face the Ball. In the first half, once Mayo got into a rhythm, they were controlling the game very well, with some very fluid and intelligent play. Vaughan was punching holes and Boland was linking play very well. Cillian and Andy were lively. It was very obvious that Kevin Walsh was extremely concerned. The sending off was the critical and i’d say Walsh was a relieved man.
Lets not condemn this team just yet!

Reality why would they take off caff comer scored once in the first half and apart from getting Higgins sent off and shouldering diarmuid in the back all he did for the rest of the game was run around doing a Fred flintstone impression.Lee was off form today,paddy needs to lay off the ball to a forward was off form as well.seamie took a big hit to which didn’t help his cause.parsons tried hard.
We have absolutely no forward plan and that’s down to management.we were four points down and I honestly think either Andy or Kevin Mc should have being left on for experience.Colm Boyle must of had a niggle or heed be on sooner.
The longer you’d watchful this team the more confused you’d get with what goes on.

Brutal performance for 65 minutes. Then 5 minutes at the end we were nearly completely on top. How come? Did mighty Galway run out of steam or did Mayo realise that they might get beaten and throw caution to the wind? I dunno but overall it was very poor from one of the so called big 3/4. No way are we up there after that performance.

Lets face it the chips were down. Everyone knew that a statement was required today from that team after last years Castlebar debacle and not least a poor Sligo performance earlier this year. But it simply was a bridge too far against a tighter, tenacious Galway team who were not afraid to use quick ball and forwards that were unafraid to run at their opposing men.

I thought our 1/2 fw line was terrible. We won little or no breaks from midfield and we don’t have any players who can break the tackle or take on their opposite man 1 to 1. Ally that with little or no work ethic in tracking back and you have a worthless enough combination. Seamie in midfield looked jaded as well after 40 minutes and in fairness they changed him. Also in fairness to SR and the sideline they changed that entire 1/2 fw line.

But the question has to be asked if that’s where the engine room are at in terms of fitness and work rate then why were/are they picked there in the first place?

The height of stupidity from Keith Higgins today. Right under McQuillan’s nose as well. He can have no complaints, but it’s bad form for a man of his experience to let down himself and the team in such a way. He’s important to our structure at the back and he is one of our best movers on the ball. Movement was extremely laboured when he went off.

What’s most worrying to me today though was that Galway were in panic mode for the last 10 minutes and we still couldn’t level it. No composure up front. It was in those last few minutes that we needed Andy on the pitch. Why was he subbed after he had just kicked a great score.

AOS was ineffective when he came on and Diarmuid O’Connor struggled throughout too. Cillian was trying really hard all the time, but no back up as per usual.

In 1998 Galway beat us and went on to win the All-Ireland title. That day we hit the wood work a few times as we did again today. Today was not our day. Galway were the better team as they were that day in 1998. Our only consolation now is that we are still in the championship. There was no back door back then. We take it from here and move on. That’s all we can do really.

Agree with that assessment Facetheball.They were much better than in Castlebar. 14 men and could have….Will they see it that way and what will be the reaction? They ll hardly want to hang up the boots at this stage! They re still in the competition and they are a committed bunch. And of course there’s nothing that unbeatable out there …as has been said …even more so this year!! And they surely know that this is their year….it’s still on. Harrison to come back…AOS to straighten himself out .. management still feeling it’s way… couple of wins and we re back on the ball.This is the way it’s goin to be! Heads up Mayo…we ain’t gone yet!

Anybody that takes any positives out of that is only fooling themselves . That was rank fuckin bad. We got as handy a draw last year as possible. If we get one tough away match this year it’s game over. Wille Joe summed it up on the audio, we have topped out and unfortunately I think it will not be a soft landing … more a rapid crash. I’m gutted, demoralised and angry… not sure in what order but all them emotions are there.

Completely agree with you Face The Ball. But what on earth possessed Keith? I just can’t fathom it. Not his form, I would have thought. Definitely think we would have won if we’d had the full 15. What was the story with Boyler does anyone know? If you had told me that we’d have to play most of the game without higgins and Boyler, I’d never have thought that we’d only be beaten by a point.
For selfish reasons I’m not relishing the qualifiers as other commitments mean that I possibly won’t make them ( I had optimistically cleared the decks for the provincial winning route) unless we get really lucky with some home draws!! Down but out.

These guys owe us nothing. We had a great journey with them. Unfortunately we didn’t win sam. The reality is that this squad, as it is, are gone. They have run their coarse. All the same faces. Sorry to say. Mayo abú

Truegrit, yes you have posted in the past. But the event’s of today don’t prove your right. I posted as well and many others, differing opinions. All it proves is that you think your right, but if you’re looking for evidence that proves your right to, you won’t fit it picking over the bones of today’s match in Salthill. Today’s performance is still allot better than last year’s, Galway were far superior to the same time last year as well,. Galway deserved their win and I congratulate them, but you have to admit, they got a few breaks, Cillian hit the woodwork for a goal, one or two decisions that I taught were harsh on Mayo, AOS is not fully fit, Brendan Harrison is not fit , I posted earlier in the build up to this match, that Kevin Keane was a big loss for Mayo playing against Damien Comer.. Last time Mayo played Galway in Salthill, Mayo played with a fully fit, AOS and a fully fit Kevin Keane who successfully kept Damien Commer under lock and keys. In fact the injury list for that particular day included none other than Shane Walsh depriving Galway of such a sensenational talent. And indeed the Galway full back was sent off for repeatedly fouling AOS that day. Of course these are the facts, but still it doesn’t prove that I’m right in my defence of Rochford its only my opinion. Keith Higgins getting sent off the for the first time that I can remember the is hardly something that can be blamed on the management. Let’s hope for a decent home draw and get this show on the road again. Like last year, let’s show our support for a fantastic team… Two things I’d like to mention, firstly Donal Vaughan was easily my MotM, kept doing the right thing for the team. Secondly this is the second time, Damien Commer has been involved in the the sending off of a Mayo player. While Keith has to take full responsibility for his actions, Commer was definitely looking for Keith to react. In 2015 Damien Commer was definitely proactive in getting Lee Keegan sent off, dragging Lee 10 or 15 yards along the sidelines, with Lee already being on a yellow, he got his second on that occasion and subsequently send off. I’m pretty sure Damien and Galway planned for a Mayo man to be sent off on both occasions! I also disagree with those who have criticised David Clarke today, I taught he was solid, maybe not all his kicking out was perfect, but to those who are questioning, I tell them this, it was blowing a gale in Salthill, David Clarke done very well under the circumstances! The dream still lives!

So disappointed for this resilient team. My heart aches for them. Brillant 1st half and only for Keith going off it would be a v different result. 14 men against 15 is the bottom line here. I worried when Andy taken off and that was another downfall. These are the way games go.
Please dont let today get us down. They are resilient fantastic group.

Loftus not featuring? Is he just not doing it in training? Galway were nervous at the end and our compete lack of compusure was really disappointing. The game was there. A gale wind. 6 minutes to play. 1 point down and we failed.

Look, we simply don’t have enough natural forwards. Fact. We need to play to our strengths, pack our defence. Make it really difficult to score against us and use the huge pace we have in Keegan, Durcan, Higgins to break fast.

Galway scored 15 points without even playing all that well. If our defence don’t play well as a unit then we are always gonna struggle even against mediocre teams. We need to get that right first, like we did in Croke park last Sept/oct, before we turn our attention to scoring!

If the team could defend as if did against the best attack in the country then why not stick to the same script now? For me it’s a no-brainer. McLoughlin is the sweeper. BJP says it nearly every week in the Mayo News!!!

Weather played a signifigant part in todays outcome. Mayo were the better team over the duration the result did not reflect that reality. Fair play to Galway. They had a lot of pressure on and we felt the heat and could not respond. I am still hopefull that something good will come. Talk later near September time , when all the whether this or whether that has blown on through.”Never show the white feather wherever ye go” Come on Mayo!

Is there any chance of us meeting Galway again this year? I’d love to see us have another go at them. Let’s face it, we would absolutely destroy them in Croke Park on a nice calm day with 15 men on the pitch for a majority of the game. I don’t give a sh*t what anyone says.

We did lots of things wrong both on the field and off.
It started with having our lads out in a downpour ‘warming up’ while Galway remained inside as far as I know. Result 3 points down in 3 minutes.
Keith Higgins indiscipline……..well that cost us big time.
Seamus O Shea seemed exhausted long before he was taken off. We lost the middle.
Andy Moran and Kevin Mc subbed when they were better scoring options….crazy.

Today is horrible. I still believe we can compete st the business end of the championship but IMO we need this team to become the meanest tightest defence in the country. That MUST be our platform for success.

Today was just confirmation of what we already knew. We are so weak in the forwards that we need 60% of the play to win a game. Tactically very poor from management as others said wind at our backs put the 2 big men inside and bombard…i don’t tho k it happened once. Rep if Ireland finished game with 6 forward players on and it worked. They got a draw.
Kildare Meath Donegal Tyrone cork Cavan any of them.could be away opposition in the qualifiers and they could beat us. …but that might be better then taking a hiding from the big two in croke park. This is the 2nd greatest ten ever . They gave some great years and they will go down fighting…

Looked like some players not trying, Galway had loose players running at us 2nd half with some of our guys not bothering to track back. If they could not get themselves up for Galway in Salthill, can’t see how they will be motivated for an away game in Carlow or a similar draw in the Qualifiers. Could be a short Summer!

Reality,
I had to agree with you. I take no pleasure in criticising players but Cafferkeys lack of aerial ability has cost us scores in 2012 when he was spared the problem of dealing with Murphy, in 2013 he was well beaten by Brogan, in 2014 Donaghy skinned him and the result was the concession of goals and penalties, in 2015 he back pedalled in front of Brogan until he set up the crucial and deciding goal and now this year he has been skinned v Sligo and again today.
We have forgotten everything and learned nothing.
This is a saying of my maths teacher of many years ago. Rochford did not decend from another planet to manage this team but if he had any awareness of the situation he ought to have divined that Irwin on a zimmer frame would be a better prospect than Regan whose hoofing of two reasonable chances were more reminiscent of a junior defender of my era should tell the manager what a man who plays with his children in the back yard can already see.
The scapegoats for today must be Keith, our greatest contemporary servant and without any shadow of doubt the management either singular or collective.
Rant over, but if anybody can adduce an argument to refute any of my comments I will be happy to argue the points.
Incidentally I tipped Galway to win today and that will continue to apply until we repair the full back position.
Bill Connolly.

Tough being a Mayo supporter today, but strangely I feel less disappointed than heretofore, as I have come to terms with the fact that the players skills-set will always leave us on the brink of our seat – they just haven’t the capacity to put teams away, despite their best efforts.
When we accept that fact, then exploiting the available talents will always be a key component of success (whatever that may look like) – Jame Horan was almost a master at that but regrettably his successors haven’t built on that legacy.
The County Board should be required to explain to supporters, why all Mayo under-age football teams have been overwhelmed this year as well as its plans to rectify the situation – or is it immune from accountability owing to its voluntary status.

So we turn round at half time a point down after playing into a strong headwind with 14 men for the best part of the half and what do we do “sit back” unbelievable. Rochford then in his wisdom decides to take off Andy Moran and replace him with a lame Aidan O’Shea, i know we wanted a miracle but the several ” hail Marys” from from 40 +yards out including from the touchline were beyond a joke, if Rochford had a game plan he must have kept it to himself.

SOS blowing black smoke early in the 2nd half….for the chance that Clarke saved with his legs on the near side, I’m pretty sure it was due to him switching off/not being able to track back which caused the overlap.
Playing against the win while winning the toss was an odd one…although it could be argued we played better in the first half. The sending off killed our long ball chances in the second half…Galway always had men to cover.

Very disappointed for this group of players, just don’t know if they can lift themselves again for the scenic route. I have been and still am a fan of Rochford, but think he made loads of errors today… what does Shane Nally have to do to get on the pitch, second half with wind behind him, feel sure he would have fired over one or two from distance…. only good thing is the lack of quality in the qualifier draw… might gets us back on track… fucking hate losing to Galway….

Mayo Exile and Yew Tree…our underage apart from the odd flash in the pan, had been disastrous for the past 5/6 years. We were embarrassed at u21 in Castlebar by ros…twice I think! Our u21 team with Cillian, COS AND Regan lost to Galway, this year our 21’s were soundly beaten by gslway. Our minors have been trounced 3 years in a row by Galway and today our 17’s, well beaten, again, by Galway. Hmmm… I wonder which county is odds on to dominate Connacht for the next 6/7 years?

Many of us have been crying out for some REAL structure from 12 year olds up but instead the opposite had happened and I’m really worried about us moving forward.

I wouldn’t panic we played most of the game with 14 men and a full back only
Playing his second game since injury and we could have won it if we were cuter up front. I keep saying it but we need to bring in the likes of Peter Canavan to help management formulate a potent attacking plan.

I reckon all these pessimists commenting here are trolls disguised as Mayo fans. How about we get behind players and management, and if we get knocked out then discuss changing management and some players. Rochford got us to a final in his first year in charge, so I think he deserves more respect.

Had to admire mayo for fighting to the death against 15 men, but have to agree with other comments about mayo fwds. For years mayo backs and midfield have carried their fwds. Why do we not have a single fwd who could get into the panel of dublin, donegal or kerry?… possibly COC on a good day, but no one else. Management are at a complete loss. Don’t think think galway will go too far either. Not sure how mayo will cope against tyrone/donegal or meath/kildare….Have to believe mayo no’s 1-9 will lift their game in the qualifiers and somehow heroically drag the team to late August as they always do. Where are the forwards??!!!….

Just dont understand the Aidan and Colm situation.
I thought Aidan did well and lifted the team and Boyle full of running.
Taking off Andy who is likely to score and Mclaughlin I dont understand.
Wont be hard on any lads but some will know today is one to forget.
Management have to manage and I could not discern any plan at all in 2nd half.I am sure thats just me though .

Have no complaints about today, Galway were the better side. Forwards win games, Galway have them, We sadly dont.

Higgins red did have an impact, it meant we couldnt get numbers up to press the keepers kickouts in the second half.

Midfield is a huge problem, we havent been dominant in this area since 2013, whwn AOS was stationed there.

Clarke is overall our best keeper but coughed up scores off the kickout, even in the second half with the wind, this is a regular occurrence, teams are targeting this area. It isnt helped by the fact that we cant control to middle of the field anymore.

We did well in the first half and played some smart football against the wind. Going in 2pts down I really thought we were going to pull away in the second. Why was DOC in midfield contesting throw in, lost a score in both throw ins.

In the end we lost beacuse we dont have the forwards to score. 41mins with a hurricane at our backs and showed a total inability to kick the ball between two posts. We had the possession but poor shot selection and an unwillingness to take a shot when it was available. Needed to go more direct in the second but at times looked like we were still playing against the wind.

Im not sure if this is the end of the road for this group, they may have it in them to rally and put a run together, a long long way to September though. Longford are on our side of the draw, now that would be poetic.

Higgins sending off arguably cost us the game (we had the better of up to that).

There’s no question though that the old repeated failing of not taking our chances showed again today. It’s deeply dissapointing that such an experienced team couldn’t engineer an equaliser against an average Galway defence.

Agree 100% that AM and KMC should have been kept on – they were exactly the players we needed at the end.

SOS looked exhausted 15 minutes into the wind half.

Team is on the decline I fear and imagine to think that in the space of 12 months we’ve gone from talk of 6 in a row in Connacht for us to back to back titles for Galway (they’ll win the province) with talk of 3 in a row for them now.

I hate to say it but we could be a whilst waiting for another Connacht title.

When Galway beat us this time last year I was sure it was the end of the road for this team. So I am reluctant to write us off just yet. However, it must be very hard for many of these lads to pick up the kit bag next Tuesday night to go to training. It would take an amazing manager to lift them again and I’m not sure Steven Rochford can do this. As regards lack of quality in the qualifiers – I’m not sure you could write off the likes of Tyrone or Donegal as lacking quality. They would be a handful for anyone. A comeback from this defeat would be amazing. I can’t see it happening. If it is the end of the road well all can say is thanks lads for giving it everything for so long.
.

Good man Leantimes.. very good summary and I agree with pretty much everything you have said. There were a number of things that disappointed me today. Not getting possession at the throw in’s. The fitness of some of the players is well off. The last 15mins and been able to keep calm and composed.. work good position’s and take our scores. The management team selection and substitutions. And Keith.. if you are to knee him in the goollies make sure the refs not standing right in front of ya (joke by the way). Have they it in them to go again?.. are they finished?.. there will have to be some bit of soul searching in the dressing room the next day and this team need to be very honest where they are going.

Poor performance and serious question marks over decision making both on and off the field.We were manufacturing very little in terms of play fuck all running I know the conditions were bad but we were shocking .Bad bad fucking bad and yet that game was still there for us.Im not going to start talking about the demise of this team there is enough talk about it.Sport is a funny game and as thr saying goes you are only 3 inches from a patt on the back and a kick in the hole.

Two issues with today’s team:
1. Wrong decision with the starting 15. How can you leave Boyle, Harrison and Aido on the bench. All 3 would start in any team at the moment. Galway had no one who could deal with Aido when he came on. Boyle and Harrison were also badly missed.
2. Players played out of position. Kevin Mac is not a corner forward, Leeroy plays better at No. 5 where he can attack. Boyle needs to be attacking from the other wing. Kirby was also played in wrong position. Boland should have been left on. Regan…… Well!!!

Galway are still well short of where they need to be to go on and challenge for a game in September.

Our management had a really bad day. Their team selection and positional changes this season is really poor. Not sure and I think the qualifiers will show us if they can identify their mistakes and correct them.

This team still have a few years left in them. Most of the are only coming in to their prime.

With a lucky draw or two in the qualifiers would help pick things up again….. never know where it might land us.

Let’s remember: It’s not over when you lose, it’s over when you quit and this Mayo team never quits! Let’s also remember the countless hours our team and management dedicate. True fans support their team on days like this and we will roll on to more games! Maigh Eo Abú!

– With a wind that would dismantle Daniel O Donnells hair and a slippy pitch this was an enthralling match full of incidents
– No issue with Galway winning their forwards used the wind better than ours did full stop.
– We had a full 6 minutes to grab a draw and we could not manufacture a free.
– While Conroy was well held nearly all the other Galway forwards at least equalled if not beat our guys.
– Comer for such a big guy went to ground like a Patsey, wait until u meet Philly or Johnny Cooper.
– Vaughan great first half and Coen got plenty of possession in first half so those two changes worked. Diarmuid still well below par again and he should have been first subbed. Andy and Kevin subbed one after another made no since as despite what some people think we do not have the best bench in Ireland.
– For the qualifers can we see some forward tactics as none evident so far in 2017. Do not play injured players and underperforming players should be subbed in a timely manner.
– Finally COC was lucky he did not follow Higgins to the line, it was no black card for Flynn. Our top players need to hold their discipline.

I was upset to see Keith Hiigins get a red card today. Above anybody he is a very clean and fair player. I will not dispute the red card as the ref was well positioned to judge the situation. However the real problem today was not about Galway winning or Mayo losing and all the analysis that goes with it. The problem with the game we love is the ethics of some players. I refer to this ‘sledging’ that Is part of the game today. The disrespect for the opposing player has reached an intensity that is frightening. Are we happy to introduce our young players to a game that teaches such values? I have seen it first hand in off the ball incidents at games I have attended. It is truly appalling.
I have no doubt that Keith Higgins responded to such goading. We know this does not excuse Keith’s actions and he should be experienced and professional enough not to have responded as he did.
That aside how many parents are happy for their kids to participate in a sport that teaches such values. This to me is a greater threat to the sport than any other factor. It must be stamped out. We all love a clean physical game. The majority abhor the verbal abuse, the disrespect for opponents and playing the man and not the ball. Our game will not survive these ethics.
It has always been part of our game and I have seen so called pundits of today use such tactics when they played football.
If we do not respect one another in sport it is quite possible we will carry this into our interactions with one another in our everyday lives. Sorry for the philosophical analysis.
Having said all that I am pissed off we lost!!

Looking at potential.oppents for qualifiers…derry away could be a trick one first up. Round 3 then could be loser of Tyrone Donegal or Meath kildare. Then round four.. ..its a really hard road now for our battle weary warriors. Do we have the squad depth? Adam Gallagher is in development squad. Surely he is better then our other forward options?

I think watching Sunday game tonight when u see 3 players in particular – James O donoghue (in particular) Paul Geaney and Conor McManus you get to the heart of where Mayo are probably coming up short. I don’t see forwards of that 3s calibre in Mayo…it’s not a massive criticism – not many teams have them but to win all irelands I think u need players like that.

On the positive. It was first time in a long time COC played deep for the entire match and it nearly paid dividends but lads he put through didn’t deliver – needs to get a bit greedier. That is where he is strongest – not hand passing laterally around midfield.

Why are we continually maligning our forwards? 6 years ago Doherty was a prolific goal scorer, Cillian a pretty reliable freetaker, McLoughlin could generally be expected to chip in with a few points and midfield contributing with the occasional score. What do we do? We field a full back who continually struggles under a high ball and a centre back who plays out of position and leaves a motorway to our goal. Then because we have no defenders we defend with a crowd , thereby robbing our attack. Then we blame our forwards for not scoring when they have to play behind their own 45m line.
REPAIR THE DEFENCE and the forwards will get us there.

As a galway man obviously delighted. I’m not sure about Mayo. It was a day perfectly suited for Boyle so can only assume he had a knock. I think it was easy to motivate galway for today. Reading this blog you’d swear we only played mayo and tipp last year and which was hugely disrespectful to Ros. We got no credit, Mayo were caught on the hop, look what tipp did to them, they are only operating in d2 etc etc. Best of luck in the qualifiers

Dust settling. Let’s allow it too. Don’t write off this group. Maybe they won’t win an All Ireland. But maybe they will! Today won’t decide that. Every cloud and all that. Granted for me back door not the way we want to go this year but it’s the way we now have to go. I maintain 15 v 15 we would have had enough to get over the line, and Galway v Mayo that’s all we are looking for. With 20 minutes to go and chasing, been forced to push high left us short around middle, ultimately the risk and reward balance, well didn’t balance out. Management been questioned. I can see why. But….decisions have to be made, if Evan Regan landed one of those he would have been an inspired substitituon! Fine margins. Likewise maybe Boyle not just firing in training. I love him to bits and all he stands for. But…I don’t see first hand how he’s moving on a Wednesday night. I do want the shackles taken off some lads, Keegan especially. Durcan too. Go let them express themselves going forward. Again, the I use the word balance. Find it. All in all we go again. We know no other way. But not all is lost. We will be playing football in August in HQ. But management do need to get more decisions right than wrong between now and then. PS: Aidan O’Shea should play alongside Tom Parsons. His influence is too big. Seen that today. Inside he lacks the quick feet, the ‘busyness’ (which I know isn’t a word) that’s needed against the top top defenders. In the middle, he’s a wrecking ball. Rant over. Dream not over.

First of all my heart goes out to our great team and once again thank them for the great years of joy,as I said I wasn’t at the game,first for a long time,however I am not going to name any particular player in connection with today’s defeat,but I question some of the decisions made on the sideline,ie.why wasn’t A.O ‘Shea introduced? earlier or started ,to strengthen our attack?and remember we were very unlucky to miss two great goal Chance’s,all said and? done Galway deserved their victory,and I wish them well in the future,but one thing I will say now, management team and especially the supporters,” never show the white feather where ever you go”,and go for the qualifiers and give them hell,look forward,Hon Mayo

Remember the first game against Kerry in 2013. Down a man. Down 4 or 5 pts. What we saw for a half hour after that was some of the best football our team have played in recent times.

With the same task today there was no such reaction. Stubborness brought us back some of the way but we are a shadow of our former glory

It’s a sad night but after two years of underperformance some of which was hidden by a generous draw last year, we need to look to the new generation and who they must be lead by. I don’t think Stephen is that man. He appears out of his depth to me.

Higgins probably cost us a win today. That will torment him.

We know there is no Sam in 2017. These lads are still wounded from near misses and it is hard to see a run this year in what looks a trickier pool

Lads firstly it was a cracking game, tough going and a great atmosphere. The conditions as expected were always goijng to have a say. We struggled for periods in the first half at the back but grew into it more as game went on. It’s a game of slim margins, 9 times out of ten Keegan shot would have gone over or wide, off the post and we got caught. Higgins stupidity cost ye.. P joyce said last week ( and was lambasted here ) for saying he needed goals to win, that ye wouldn’t score 16 points. Mayos problems in the forwards showed with some terrible shots near the end..When I saw Boyle and AOS notg starting it gave us a big lift and I’m sure it did in the Galway dressing room. Finally Comer is our go to man and he give a Cafferkey the run around, it is asking a lot of a man who missed all last year to come back and shackle Damien. Posters coming on here saying Galway are poor and won’t go far is uncalled for .. The qualifiers will be an intersting watch..

Clubman2016………AOS at midfield for sure would be great…….if he was fit…….These guys incl Aido have given so much to the Mayo cause but why put a man out on the field in the heat of a battle when he cant run ?

I am generally a sucker for punishment in that I absorb everything that’s said on social media after a game. I genuallly like to get the view from other counties.

What is being directed towards Cillian O Connor on that Hill 16 army page is nothing short of disgraceful. I can understand people dislike cheap jibes or hits on the field but for goodness sake leave it there…on the field.

Mentioning a players mother and rat in the same sentence and another gobeen inciting violence by saying he wants to give Cillian a slap….disgraceful stuff.

Hard to win with some of your best players not starting, particularly colm Boyle, our best defender by a country mile! Never has a bad game. Then again we have a history of doing this, shooting our selves in the foot for sure!

My god that was bad . Red card , what was he thinking ? Last five minutes were a disaster 4 wides . Taking off andy ? Kevin mac was only 50/50. Mid field where in the name of god were they , both parsons and s o ‘shea pathetic shifts put in today . Boland was super one of few to be patted on the back today in a green and red shirt . Looking forward to the back door ! ( NOT )

Today just confirmed what any objective observer should be able to see…
Mayo under Rochford in general have regressed.Poor league last year, lucky backdoor run last year, insipid league this year…

A management has to to be judged under the folllowing criteria:
1.Selection of team & tactical awareness.
2.In-game decsion-making, again in relation to personnel and approach.
3.The level of peformance of both individuals and the team.

On all of those points the current management have failed. As much as James Horan’s efforts were limited by a tactical naivety and stubborness to listen to advice, at least he got a talented bunch of players to perform to their utmost. How many of the current panel are playing at 90-95% of their potential as they were under Horan? And dont churn out the old ‘we’re trying to peak in September ‘ bs.

It pains many supporters to see basic selection mistakes, missed opportunities to rectify problems, failure to put opposition weaknesses to the sword and downright illogical thinking. Just one example- we struggle for natural forwards and yet disregard players like Neil Douglas…

I fully agree with WJ in his request for balance in our opinions. These Mayo players are the finest of individiuals, both on and off the pitch. Not one deserves any kind of finger pointing. We who go to games and have lived and drank off their hard work have no right to pontificate. Perhaps they missed the boat, with 2014 being their stongest year. We will continue to support them. I just think they need better management. Maigh Eo abú.

Tuamstar, if you don’t like what posters here are saying about Galway maybe you should go hang out on a Galway blog. We are saying a lot more negative stuff about our own lads so don’t get too offended.

Good point Mayonaze…
From speaking with those who have a good idea of whats going on at underage the future is not bright…old fashioned ideas, poor coaching and tactical awareness, selection issues, size being deemed more important than skill are all issues. We have been lucky having a talented and motivated senior team for the last decade, it has papered over deep cracks….

Three weeks ….Thank god for the back door system ????
Get Harrison, K McLoughlin, D o’Connor & the two O’Sheas fully fit.
Andy needs to be finishing games.
Lee needs to getting forward.
And most importantly get some game time into somebody to play alongside c o’connor for 40 minutes. … possibly C Loftus or Brian Reape. Or possibly move d o connor up top until Andy comes on. Them move him back out when Andy comes on.
Andy and Cillian were excellent today in the first half. If both were playing up top for the last twenty Mayo would have got enough to win today’s game.

tuam star, quite a lot of people on here have said Galway deserved their win, so a bit of balance in your response would be good. This is a Mayo forum after all and and so I don’t think it’s at all ‘uncalled for’ by voicing the opinion that Gal were poor today. Going onto a Galway page to say it might be however. Theres a difference.

I agree it was an ill-judged action by Higgins and his loss was arguably the defining factor in the result, but watching him for the past 11 years at senior level, he’s a very clean fair player. I’m not going to suggest that comer said something to him, cos that might be breaking a rule on this blog? However, I’ve never seen Keith lash out like that before and so for a player of his experience and reputation to do so in a manner in which he did it and so early in the match is very strange indeed.

Enjoy the conn final. Galway seem to have a few years of success ahead.

You’re right, Mayonaze – there’s absolutely nothing to be gained in going near stuff like that. Personally, I have to say my faith in humanity has been shaken by the rise in social media but that’s a wider debate!

Steady on there, Sinead37 – outside views are very welcome on here (providing what’s posted is reasonable) and the input by contributors from Galway over the last while has been great.

All – just another quick reminder re the need to avoid going overboard in criticisms of specific players and management. With a bit of thought, it’s straightforward enough to make a critique without it descending into unacceptable territory. As ever, the vast majority of comments are fine but for a small minority.

Really not sure what to make of that. Started both halves so poorly, which is becoming so regular. We tamely lost the throw in at beginning of both halves, which is non entity you might say, but 2 points directly came from this & 2 more followed from the resulting kickouts. What happened to be a bit of teamwork, ie one man up, & knock it down to the other who has pealed away? Small things but we left ourselves a mountain to climb. Why not go out and lay down a marker from the off? 2nd half especially we needed to do this.

Cillian takes a 45 in the second half, and we hadn’t one man inside the 21. Low and behold, it comes off the post and we had no one in there. How on earth, can we be so naive to not have someone in there in the event it drops short, come off the post etc? Kevin Mc wouldn’t have got our goal if he hadn’t shown the intelligence to follow up Leeroy’s shot in case of the above. I have observed this in almost every league game this year, so it’s not as if it was just today. That is basic stuff, but so frustrating.

In spite of silly errors, poor shot selection and a red card to a key man, we could & possibly should have got at least a draw. I thought we were also on the end of a few horrid decisions by the ref, but that isn’t sour grapes. Maybe they caught us cold last year, but we can’t use that as an excuse this year. Well done to Galway. They probably could have beaten us in 2015 aswell, but for Aidan O Shea’s literal execution of Finian Hanley.

Will the qualifier draw be as kind to us this year? Probably not, but maybe that might not be a bad thing. We seem to raise our game against better opposition. I’ll follow these lads to the ends of the country, they have given us some incredible days and performances. We can ask no more of them, but I hope there’s still something left in the tank.

I just don’t understand what the story was with Boyle and Aido. Particularly Boyle. Why didn’t he play? He didn’t look injured in the warm up, he was excellent against Sligo…? Just don’t know. And Aidan covered some ground when he came, he looked good fitness wise, can’t understand why he wasn’t brought in earlier.

Apologies if I offended anyone lads , I don’t come on with any intention of doing so. I have one half of family in Mayo and have huge personnel history with the county. Look ye still will have a huge say in this year’s championship yet..

Rochford has alot to answer for.Fair enough Aido been injured if he was(played really well when introduced) but to drop Boyler a border man our most passionate warrior against Galway .Then he takes off Andy Moran straight after he kicks a fine score and introduces David Drake when his team badly need scores , at least Regan had the guts to shoot even if it was not good shot selection.Thought Danny Kirby did well when introduced could have well got a goal only for Johny Heaney and played a great pass into Cillian for a point. felt sorry for Shane Nally given no game time after his performances during the latter league games and him capable of kicking long range scores which Mayo badly needed.

TH, Nally can be disappointed not to start! I think he’s be a natural no.6… And let Lee stay where he belongs, on the wing. Coen too could fit the no.6 role.

Look, yes lots of team are 30+ but we also have younger lads, AOS, Lee, Nally, Kev, Doc, Vaughan all 27 ish…hardly over the hill, even with plenty of mileage they all have 4/5 years left potentially. Cillian is about 25, Harison and Durcan 23 and Diarmuid /Coen 22 and 21 respectively. We appear to have a few more very decent defenders to come in when Keith, Boyler, Barret and Caff hang up the boots and a few or all could go another year or two. O’Donoghue, Akram, and I see Kevin Keane playing a pivotal role for Mayo again.

Midfield is where we are a little light all of a sudden. I think AOS will end up back around here on a more permanent basis. SOS doesn’t really look like a 70 min man anymore, maybe this year but he’s going a long time in an attritional area where pace is now key.A lot will look at Ruane, but he’s still very young. Midfield is for men, unless you’re supremely talented. We have to hope he and a few more develop, sooner rather than later. I actually think Conor OSe could do a job around the centre. I don’t think he has it for up front but he’s big, fit and willing to work. A bit more midfield experience and he could be useful. Win the ball, lay it off…simple stuff etc. Let others create.

It’s definitely time to start blooding Reape and give Loftus more game time. These are our future forwards.

To say this team is finished doesn’t make sense. It might go thru a bit of transition but a team with 4/5 all stars and a player of the year in defence with two former double young footballers if the year in attack…surely we can build a promising and successful team around them??

When a team is operating at the top over a number it years, it just requires a couple of quality players per year to keep things ticking over, for freshness and competition. It doesn’t require wholesale changes.

So not for the first time we lost a game we could have won, and the consequences of this loss may very well signal the beginning of the end of this team. Yes we might with a favourable draw in the qualifiers make it to the Quarter Final stages but it’s hard to see this team, having taken so many hits over the years, continue to dig out results against more formidable opposition later on in the year. Of course Management and players will try a put a positive spin on things because that’s what they must do, but some of those battle weary heroes must surely be seeing the writing on the wall. The next training session will be no place for the faint hearted and it will take some powerful words of wisdom from Rochford and his captain to get the belief and hunger back in those lads. Let’s hope they can find a way.

Only got to listen to the game on the radio via the internet out in the sticks today so it was patchy at best–the reception, that is. Last few minutes I was sure someone would have a go and we’d get the draw. Evan Regan did and it didn’t work. He backed himself but no joy. Anyway, the game wasn’t simply about the last kick of the game. There were a few fairly anonymous fellas today and some bad decisions made all round. But weren’t we in a similar place this time last year? I can’t back this up with any sharp analysis or offer any particularly new angle but we’ll still be in the shake up in August and after. Mayo for Sam? Hard to know. Galway? Not a fucking chance.

In truth, we are in decline signs there throughout the league. Galway with respects are very average they have not caught up to us, we have gone back.
In light of S Rochford’s two year reign, what did Homes and C do wrong, not much considering they managed a handy Connacht title, results prove that.
In the end had K Higgins stayed on d pitch the comments and tone of this thread would be different.
In summary we are finished, had our chances over the years, fair play to the panel gave much and in fairness to Chris Barret very much under rated always does the simple things we’ll never gets the kudos he deserves.
Now hopefully a quarter final exit to the eventual All Ireland Champs.

A few thoughts on todays game without having read any of the earlier contributiions to this site – only got in after the drive back and a few scoops of restorative nourishment.
1] Management must have it in their mind that Andy Moran has only 40 – 45 minutes in him. That is the only possible explanation for his substitution right after that marvellous score. But if so why start him when we had decided to play against the wind? He would have been far more use to us in the latter stages of the game. Granted the team list would have probably have been given to the ref before the toss of the coin [I think it has to nowadays] but surely it is a judgement call?
2] Why, when Danny Kirby had a few inches advantage on the Galway full back, were a few balls not dropped in on top of them to see the outcome? In any case I feel Danny has earned a start the next day for his efforts today.
3] I was never convinced by Evan Regan and I am much less so today. His shot selection was very poor and he does not look like a team player to me. Similarly but differently with Fergal Boland who is a team player but lacks the height and physicality to make a real contribution at the top level.
4] Would a manager not be better positioned in the stand to get a view of where the game is at tactically? I myself prefer watching a gamme while being fairly high up in the stand. And i did spend a few years on the sideline too. I suppose a box a la Davy Fitz on Saturday would not always be possible.
5] I am convinced that we would have won without the sending off and that there is no great reason to be pessimistic. If we’re lining out in Sept this little contrempts will seem of little importance. The route may be a little tougher but I think we are far more advanced in our preparation than this time last year so I have no major fears.

Agree there’s no shortage if trolls here and of course our regular batch of English soccer team imitating sky high when we win bottom of the world when we lose merchants.
Here’s my analysis,
1) Galway are now a good team, would be a very good one if they could tighten their defense.
2) Mayo had a game plan and it was working quite well into the wind. It would likely have caused even more mayhem had Keith not gotten sent off. It was more direct, finding the corners and getting the ball across their back line and making goal chances. Cillian’s goal miss should have been hit a bit lower with more power.
3) Management were right on all calls apart from possibly dropping Boyle. However Galway had 2 6’5″ midfielders and Conroy is 6’3″ and Donie played well. Also tough as he is could Boyle keep up with probably the fastest attack in the Country from the start?. SOS was hit big time so don’t blame him, that’s a good Galway middle 3. Contrary to what some said Parsons had a good game and won some important turnovers. All players tried 100%, whoever said they didn’t is talking shite.
4) Regan was correct to go for both those shots though the 2nd should have used outside of boot. His first was quite close. Space was at a premium as Galway had almost everyone back.
5) Andy and Kevin Mc most likely called ashore from GPS stats. Even the super fit Durkan was almost out on his feet before the end though found enough energy even to disposses Cummins dramatically near the end. The substitutions were simply a consequence of having to do more work with 14.
6) The kickouts worked well in both halves though we conceded 2 in 2nd it had to be a possession game. First of those 2 a player lost his feet. 2nd AOS called but Comer outsprinted him.

That’s the positives. The negatives are we lost, made a few unnecessary mistakes (2 Durkan misses and 1 by Donie and 1 by Cillian were all scorable), Cillian was also a bit ratty which isn’t the first time. I wish he would just focus more on being the brilliant natural forward that he is. Was good in patches today and won his battles more often than not. Not over the moon that he seemed to get a player black carded.
Keegan though controlling the game well had a serious handful to mark in Walsh which kept him pinned back more.
So management got it right apart (on past performances) from dropping Boyle but who knows what players look like in A vs B and Coen is a taller man. Coen did nothing wrong but had a quiet game front foot influence wise. Donie probably offered more than J Doherty would have.

As for back door Derry are the only ones I’d be remotely worried about for our next outing. It’s not until we meet the other Ulster losers or 2nd and 3rd Leinster team that I’d worry. Cork were awful for 35 but despite recovering some pride they still seem well off the top pace.
That said we got fairly good draw last year. Where we need luck is a 2 week gap should we make QF. Tyrone could and maybe should have beaten us last year with 1 week gap for us.
Still I see us as a more direct and better flowing team and despite today’s loss the team shape evident in 1st half was much better than last year.

Fierce frustrating that gifting Galway a goal last year and all sorts of factors yesterday – we could have 7(?) wins in a row over our nemesis and they would be surely in crisis mode.
Easy pickings for some faulting Evan for two ambitious shots-it sure beat going sideways and getting turnovered.
Same with the usual experts faulting Clarkes kickouts;SOS after a heavy hit stumbled collecting a well delivered kick out and our All star goalie gets the rap then.
Nally picked off nice scores in the league and doesn’t feature,Boyle as mentioned lives on the border & works in Clifden and would give his usual 110%…gets about a minute…Drake in the forwards is deemed to be a better attacking threat than a half fit twin towers approach with Kirby & AOS?…someone tongue in cheek referred to that earlier that that’s not fashionable but who cares.
Adam Gallagher with size and moves and accuracy rots in the development squad while what’s ahead of him ain’t shooting the lights out.

Also on the subject of underage demise;we can’t let one minor & U21 title over shadow shocking displays.Bizzare non selections of was it Claremorris one year while dominating Minor and now Westport dominating county and no huge amount of them picked yet.
0-5 today!!!.Michael Fitzmaurice leaving in total frustration from North Mayo coaching is sinful…whatever about coaches being paid or breaking even there is no way lads should be out of pocket for giving their time.
I heard a lot of revelations last week of the lack of investment in underage while our top table is only dying to pump the money into a “centre of excellence”…on the basis that every other county has one…
…1 decent all weather pitch in North,South and West would surely make more sense…I presume East could use Bekan?

Will have to be hard for them to take this defeat, especially another one point one.
So hard to take this disappointment again, but in June . . . . .
On they will go & wishing them the very best. Maigheo go Deo.

I also agree with sledding comment above, it’s nasty & really wish it was dealt with.

If we had lost by a point with an extra man, you would be totally pissed off but losing by a point with 14 men for a large part of the game, makes it a bit easier to take. It’s probably time now for everyone to take a step back, regroup and give it one last big hurrah. What else can we do.

We will go onn because that’s what we know best to do. And Boy do we above any other county know how to do it. Hearts and heads up to the next match now. So much left in this team and they will not give up. We must battle onn with them to the end. It’s the ups and downs that tests all our reserves so lets stay strong.

God work is not easy today. The smug comments would drive you mad. Only consolation is most seem to have this the highlight of the year – bating Mayo!! Hopefully that isn’t what it returns to for us, highlight of the year beating Galway!
One or two more measures & acknowledge how lucky Galway were & the inconsistent ref.
What you say about the 14 men and one point makes sense hope springs eternal but Jesus these one point t defeats . . .

Shuffly, with respect, if any one of the coaches tell Evan that he was right to take a shot on, 60 meters from goal on the absolute edge of the pitch, then we don’t deserve to win. His decisions were absolutely terrible.

I cant believe there’s people actually defending rochford for dropping Boyle! If he was fit (which I assume he was given he came on) it was sheer madness. A current all star centre back, our best player v Sligo, a warrior who the game was crying out for. What in gods earth was the point in bringing him on in the 66th minute? It made no sense whatsoever.

I apologise Tuamstar. I’d just gotten in from my drive back from Galway. Felt gutted. Got annoyed at your comment and vented. Sorry. Your posts have never bothered me before.
Anyway I’m not giving up on these lads even if I’m very worried. I practically ran into the team when they were getting on the team bus before the match. I know they were probably trying to focus and be in ‘the zone’ but something bothered me. I nearly feel they need a summer to themselves to be honest. A another long summer going through the back door will prob end in divorce this year for me.

Will hold off on an epitaph for this team until the final nail is in the coffin..Never did like burying someone until they were actually dead!As for yesterday it was always going to be an uphill battle in an already tight game when Keith was sent off…Our back door route is,unfortunately not half as palatable as last year and my hair colour will likely be a shade of Rochford s by the end of it..

What I don’t understand is why can’t management come out & say definitively that Aidan O’Shea is injured or not – say if Colm Boyle is injured , It’s lead to a situation for the last two games where the main headline has been ‘No place for Aidan O’Shea in Mayo team ‘ . I understand the need for some secrecy but I just don’t see where we are getting any kind of advantage out of it .

Look we had a two on one goal chance in the second half that we didn’t take, when you can’t bury a chance like that in the back of the net then its not your day. We are still in the championship, that’s our only consolation. All we can do is look forward to the next game.

I was looking at those goal.chances yesterday and that full backline thinking Brian Reape would have bagged two goals.
No one could burst past their man. There was no proper goal poacher in the inside line. A desperately slow forward line for this level.

Sad day fro Mayo and whilst the management cannot be held responsible for Keith’s sending off cannot, they can for sure be held fully accountable for other poor decisions. We all can see it and the players definitely know it, my fear is that it will be a mammoth task now to get these guys motivated again because they know that the same inept decisions will come from the sideline again in the next game. We all talk about weak links on the field but if we have 2 or 3 team members incapable of making killer management decisions then unfortunately nothing will change for Mayo .. we will always be there or thereabouts which is not good enough.

We are not dead yet. The back door beckons—we are better prepared for it than last year. i feel Kildare will beat Meath. The Meath backline is very weak. The losers of Tyrone / Donegal will be the team to avoid but that is the luck of the draw. BTW it now appears Connolly will appeal–it feel it will be sucessful as neither ref or linesman took any action at the time. He deserves a fair hearing.

I agree with JP. Galway have beaten us at every age grade this year and if people are upset about the senior result they should be dispared by the underage. Like a compulsive gambler, the CB has poured more and more money into the senior team while neglecting the underage structures, all in the hope that a All Ireland would solve all problems. Well the All Ireland hasn’t come, doesn’t look like coming and the baliffs are at the door. I always talk about balance and with the senior team I still think we’ll be there or there abouts come the pointy end, had we 15 men we’d have won by 5-6 points, however the underage is a huge problem.

Boyler was dropped because he was conceding 7 inches to Flynn . Aos should have been put in FF . Kyne very weak full back so it would have negated extra man . . End of . . . Would love to meet Galway in Croker . Always great occasion

If you compare what Conor Loftus did against Sligo to set-up the goal for Cillian O’Connor, to what we did yesterday, Loftus had the forward’s instinct to create a bit of room for himself by utilising his pace, then he used his weaker left hand to get the ball to the better placed man to finish off the chance. That’s what we needed to do yesterday.

Galway score two points in the last 30 minutes of the match and manage to stumble over the line at the end. Red-cards, missed goal opportunities, ‘tactical’ decisions which in hindsight are hard to fathom, poor shot selection, players being played out of position, yes this was another one that was left behind. From where I was sitting it seemed that we had to work so bloody hard to get scores. Galway are not noted for their physicality in defence, we should be able to break them down every day of the week and yet when the game was in the melting pot we couldn’t position ourselves for good scoring opportunities, despite all the possession we had in the final quarter. That has to come down to the coaching and selection. We have problems all over the field at the moment. Defence far too porous at the beginning of each half, midfield never seemed to get going and yesterday we saw two forwards (maybe even three) whom in my own opinion do not have the required size and physicality to play at this level. A bad day at the office for sure but there is no point in writing the team’s obituary yet (as many already did during this year’s league). We will know for sure that we are in for a period of restructuring if or when we are no longer featuring at the business end come August but it is far too premature for that now. We are well capable (and likely) to emerge at the quarter-final stage so let’s just see where this journey takes us.

One thing I would like to support was Evan reagans attempt with the last kicked of the day. His first attempt was slightly more dubious.

However he had the balls to go for last kick when really it was as good a chance as Mayo were going to get at that stage. Remember it was 1 min above the allotted injury time when he took the shot on. He was also playing with a big breeze and points had been scored into that goal from further e.g Daly in first half. Diarmad o Connor.

So what would people have him do. Recycle again and time is up anyway or let him take on a shot he was well capable of scoring? I think without the benefit of hindsight people would tell him to take it on if he thinks he has a crack at it….I would never knock a lad for going for that. There were a few handy chances missed earlier and those who missed won’t be subject to same scrutiny.

JP I couldn’t agree more. James Horan should be involved with Mayo underage development instead of with a hurling club in Galway. Alas I don’t think the county board want him as they surround themselves with “yes” men.

A few points give Evan Regan a break he’s young he went for it too didn’t work out. Drop Ger Cafferkey he was cleaned he’s a good lad but he frightens the crap out of me when was the last time he had a good game. Go back to the sweeper system. I say that meaning no disrespect to Ger Caff it’s nothing personal. For God sake give Brian Reape Douglas Loftus and maybe even Adam Gallagher and Irwin a run in the qualifiers and not just a token 3 minutes. Stop playing Diarmuid so deep. We’ve nothing to lose now go for broke be adventurous and brave. We are totally clueless up front recycling the ball and playing rugby with it.

What we are trying to do as teamplay is fine. But we dont have on the pitch the pace, power and finishing to implement the gameplan.
The forward line only has one pacey player Kevin McLoughlin. Not one forward is a goal merchant. Not one forward with the ability to power through the tackle.

From my point of view I wouldn’t mark yesterday as the end of an era for your boys.

Galway have possibly the most complete forward unit in Ireland at the moment and are always going to kick a decent amount of scores, they really are a nightmare match up for Mayo as you rely completely on O’Connor for scores

I’d be confident you will be there in August, this is when your team comes to life and it’ll take a good team to beat you as always.

The biggest alarm bell from a Mayo point of view is the form of Diarmuid O’Connor, I really thought he’d be the one to really share the burden with his brother and give you a proper edge up front. For whatever reason he seems bang out of form.

If that game yesterday was in croker in an all ireland series game Mayo would’ve prevailed as Galway have zero experience and that goalkeeper is as bad as I’ve seen at intercounty level.

Keep the faith lads it’s June 12th still plenty of football left in ye this summer

One thing that’s really irritating is the persistent substitutes in the last five minutes. Rochford fully responsible here. Making tactical subs on 65, 67 70 mins on the clock is pure idiotic in any game. 3 mins into second half it was evident we needed changes and they didn’t happen for what seemed an eternity.

Well said Muckle! I’m totally with you on all that and Regan + Kirby + Loftus need now to be given more time on pitch.
It’s sounds an awful thing to say but as a forward unit ours must be one of the least effective in the country and maybe one of the worst ….no joy in saying it but it is that stark. How we’ve gotten so far on so many occasions says it all for our backs and midfield. Yesterday our meagre resources out the field were further pruned by Keith’s early departure and SOS’s below par showing thus putting restraint on the usual forays from the back. Add in all the other little ailments that were part of our day and then ask the questions …how bad were we really and where are Galway at?
Our main issue is with the present and 2017 championship which will be complete in late Sept possibly. After that time we ll deal with whatever!

One feature of our many defeats to Galway at underage over the last few years is that our forward play is miles behind what Galway are at. We saw it again in the u17 game yesterday – i dont think any of our forwards scored from play. Our underage forward play mirrors that of our senior team – no movement off the ball, no pace, no sign of a game plan, half forwards playing too deep and not in a position then to support the full forward line,too much handpassing around midfield (I would call it going nowhere football). When our outfield players get the ball they seemed to be programmed to hold posession and handpass to a colleague. We need to change our training/development etc if we are going to be competitive. Assuming Andy retires at the end of this season – to me he is the ideal man to head up a development programme. But we need more recently retired county and good club players invovled. I dont think it costs a whole pile of money – have the right people there coaching the proper way.

The thing is, the chances that Evan Regan got, Danny Kirby or Shane Nally would be more suited to taking those kinds of chances from the half-forward line and the goal chance Danny had was more suited to a chance that Evan or Conor Loftus would score from. So again we were are just not getting the balance right up front.

See club championship set go ahead this weekend. Should hopefully do lads good get break from county set up and spend week with their mates who would have kicked with in schools and gardens. Therapy for the soul 😉

A baffling performance from Mayo in places yesterday. I was full sure with 15 minutes to go that they’d at least salvage a draw out of it. Galway’s entire back 6 (7 including the Keeper) was all over the place – the were the definition of on the rack. An outdated Zonal system allowed Mayo to push up to the 45/50 at will.

The thing is, that instead of pumping in ball to the square, they insisted on this plan of breaking at speed, getting to within 45 meters of goal, and then playing this pointless lateral pass-about. We could pick out 5 or 6 instances of a Mayo player working a decent scoring position for himself, only to chicken out of the shot, and start looking for Cillian. Then, when composure was needed, we have guys taking pot-shots from way out. I can only attribute it to poor game management. At least Regan had the guts to take it on, even if it was a lower percentage play. If he’d have dropped it in, there is a 50:50 of a close range point from play, or a resulting foul.

On the positive side, Parsons, while not the fastest, did engineer some good turnover play – the stripping of the ball from a solo was absolutely text-book stuff – a skill not too often seen the the modern game.

Moran’s point was sublime – which made his exit even more baffling, although he wasn’t stellar up until that point. He needs to be on the pitch at the end, not at the start.

Cillian needs to watch himself, people are starting to notice how close to the edge he plays. A black card for him in a game, and it’s curtains for Mayo. His brother had a howler yesterday – the length of his dip in form is worrying.

SOS does not have 70 minutes in him, yet again he was out of puff after 45 minutes of play. He took a huge hit early on, and it seemed to rattle him a bit. It’s not often that you’d see him taking his time getting up, he ain’t exactly tiny.

Kickouts for both sides were a point of concern – what was it, 6 points conceded in all? Lavelle you can understand – it was his debut on the Championship, but Clarke is not improving in this regard. Still a great shot stopper though.

What next?

Galway I reckon will aim to win a Quarter final in Croker.

Mayo? Avoid either Donegal or Tyrone, and August is a distinct possibility. They need to:
* Sort out a kickout strategy.
* Speed up the front 6. It’s pedestrian at times.
* Put Keegan back on the wing. Yesterday was a mess for him, far too far back.

A view from south of the Ballindine border. Obviously I’m very pleased to have beaten Mayo, a decade was an awful long time not to beat our near neighbours at home. Went to the game, as ever, with the Mayo strand of my family, iv’e seen plenty of Mayo/Galway games going back to the 80’s. In terms of drama this one was right up there and it made a compelling argument for the retention of the provincial championships. From a Galway point of view it is a big win. It irked a lot of people in Galway last year when Galway’s defeat of Mayo was nearly dismissed as Mayo being ‘caught on the hop’ or ‘undercooked’. I was at that game last year, and as should happen in every sporting duel, the better team won on that day. Mayo certainly came to win in Salthill yesterday, and indeed Mayo were considerably better than they were in last years Connacht semi final. it was a thumping game, with no quarter asked or given. As it should be.

From a Galway point of view, not scoring for the final 17mins of that game is completely unforgivable and if we are to properly return to the top table we will have to rectify it. Mayo had Galway on the ropes from the 60th minute onwards. If you offered me a draw with 67mins on the clock I definitely would have taken it. I was particularly pleased to see Andy Moran getting substituted, particularly after scoring a superb point. Same with Kevin McLoughlin, this Mayo team don’t do lying down, and they were always going to turn the screw at some point. Even with 14 men. Mayo needed all their sharpshooters on the field in the closing stages. Evan Regan is getting stick on here, and granted it was a low percentage shot. But at least he took them on. I still think he might have something to offer, but he needs to mature a bit. I was also very surprised that Boyle didn’t start, he looked fit. He was one of the few Mayo players to take the fight to Galway in Castlebar last year. For me, he epitomes this Mayo team. I was also mildly surprised that Conor Loftus didn’t feature, he’s an excellent striker of the ball and is capable of nailing a score. Our rookie ‘keeper is getting a lot of stick, some of it warranted, but Clarke probably gave away more scores than him. On day’s like yesterday, who’d be a ‘keeper? The most thankless position on the field. But It was everything a Galway v Mayo should be, ferocious, skilful, dramatic. After the hiding we got in 2013, I thought it would be a generation before we would beat Mayo again.

On the underage situation, I know personally that there are very good underage structures in Mayo, with excellent coaching. It really comes down to the nature of the GAA beast, you can only work with the raw materials that are there. Not so long ago Galway were getting wiped out at underage level by Mayo. Everyone in Galway was scratching their heads and pointing accusing fingers at underage structures/coaching etc. The real truth behind it was that it came down to swings and roundabouts. I will say that one advantage that Galway has over Mayo is having the largest urban area in the west of Ireland in the middle of the county, with plenty of employment etc. We see sons of Mayo togging for Galway at all levels, i.e. Gary O’Donnell at senior and the Finnertys and the very promising Evan Murphy at underage level. Who’s to say Galway would beat Mayo next year at Minor? Under 17’s looked much closer than the scoreline suggested to me. As I said, after 2013 I thought we were so far behind Mayo, for it not to be even funny. Mayo are going nowhere. Swings and roundabouts.

Can’t understand why Andy was replaced immediately after a spectacular point and very busy shift. Was Boyle injured? Séamie was having a good game but got injured. Despite what others say I think Boland is not capable of holding the ball and wait for runners; instead he makes 2 or 3 metre passes and we don’t advance.
But all is not lost. We should all keep our heads. Even with 14 men we got mighty close. Hold your heads up Mayo!

Looking on from a Galway perspective we were poor in the last 10 minutes and should have scored a few points. The wind will surely not be as strong again this championship and I think result could have gone either way but am glad we avoided backdoor. Mayo now need a handy first game and all is not lost. Galways aim is surely to reach the semi but still its a year too soon or maybe two for a tilt at sam.

I wonder do all those people who got on rob hennellys back in October now realise why the decision was made to drop Clarke.
Clarke kickouts are very poor.
Clarke cost mayo three points direct from poor kickouts.

Got as far a Mucklr’s post at 10.29 last night ( will read the rest later), but felt I must post now. I couldn’t agree more, the amount of so called sledging that goes on now is totally unacceptable.Yesterday in Pearse Stadium I witnessed it at the very worst. The Galway number 5 (GB) was constantly at it, despicable and deplorable, he was even having a go at the ref. Is there not a rule against this? Something needs to be done fast to cut it out.

Regarding the match it’s self I have only two words to say – “JAMES HORAN”